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Thursday, 6 april, 2023 i 15 Ramzan, 1444
Rs 15.00 | Vol Xiii No 278 i 12 Pages i islamabad Edition
Schedule revISed: ecP notIfIeS May 14 aS new date for Punjab PollS g
LAST DATE FOR APPEALS AGAInST ROS DECISIOnS IS APRIL 10, TRIBunAL TO DECIDE APPEALS By APR 17
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ISLAMABAD
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early March, the ECP had proposed that the elections be held between April 30 and May 7 and subsequently, President Arif Alvi accepted the commission’s recommendations by setting April 30 as the date for the polls. The date was officially notified by the electoral watchdog on March 8, but it was later deferred to October 8 in another notification issued by the ECP on March 22. In the latest notification issued today, the commission said it was recalling its March 22 notification and partially modifying the March 8 notification.
Staff rePort
n line with the Supreme Court’s (SC) verdict, the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) on Wednesday issued the revised schedule for the elections to the Punjab Assembly, notifying that the elections be held on May 14 instead of the previously notified date of October 8. The ECP issued the notification of the revised schedule for the general elections in Punjab, citing the Supreme Court’s verdict issued on Tuesday on a petition filed by the PTI against the ECP’s decision to delay the Punjab Assembly elections from the originally decided date of April 30 to October 8. According to ECP, under the revised schedule, the last date for filing of appeals against the decisions of the returning officer rejecting or accepting the candidates’ nomination papers has been set as April 10. The appellate tribunal can decide these appeals by April 17 and a revised list of candidates will be issued by April 18. The last date for the withdrawal of candidature and the publication of final list of candidates has been set as April 19, following which electoral symbols will be allotted to candidates on April 20. The elections, in line with the SC’s directives, are to be held on May 14. It is to be noted that elections to the Punjab Assembly have been due since January this year when the Assembly was dissolved. In
FInAL LIST TO BE PuBLISHED On APR 19 AnD ELECTORAL SyMBOLS TO BE ALLOTTED On APR 20
Fate of nation being decided with ‘strange decisions’, says PM Shehbaz iSlaMabad: In the midst multi-faceted crisis and ongoing face-off between the government and Supreme Court over its verdict on Punjab polls delay case, Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif on Wednesday held meetings with his legal team and leaders of all coalition parties to laying focus on how to deal with the apex court verdict about holding elections in Punjab. Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif announced that the government will table another resolution in the national Assembly following the apex court’s verdict on Punjab elections on Thursday (today). According to sources, Shehbaz Sharif and government legal experts held detailed consultations, analyzing constitutional and legal options against the apex court decision. Federal Law Minister Azam nazeem Tarar, Attaullah Tarar, Akram Sheikh and Attorney General of Pakistan Mansoor usman Awan attended the huddle. The sources further revealed they also pondered over the [possible situation] if the court’s decision was not implemented {….}. The participants of the meeting also discussed the possible future strategy of the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP). On the other hand, addressing a meeting of the leaders of all coalition parties on Wednesday, the prime minister referred to the decision by the Supreme Court’s three-judge bench, saying a mockery was being made with the Constitution and law and that the fate of the nation was being decided with strange decisions. He said that the three-member bench had not only rejected the appeal for constitution of a full bench to hear the case but also dismissed pleas by other political parties. “How a decision of another bench was neglected while members of the three-judge bench who had earlier recused themselves and again joined it?” he questioned. He said that a circular was issued over Justice Isa’s directive, followed by formation of a six-member bench that took up the issue and decided it. Staff rePort
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Centre, provincial govts agree on harmonisation of GST g
SC hints at forming judicial commission to probe MOvE WILL HELP ACHIEvE PRIOR ACTIOnS arshad Sharif’s murder FOR WB FunDED RISE PROGRAMME
ISLAMABAD Staff rePort
profIt iSlamabad
The Federal and provincial governments have developed a consensus on the harmonisation of the General Sales tax (GST) regime. This was disclosed in the 6th meeting of the national Tax Council (nTC) chaired by Federal Minister for Finance and Revenue Senator Mohammad Ishaq Dar. The meeting considered and approved the recommendations put forth by the Executive Committee of the nTC on the 28th of March. These recommendations entailed the Draft Place of Provision of Service Rules, which is a major milestone towards GST harmonization across the country. The approval will help achieve the prior actions for the World Bank funded RISE programme. The nTC decided with the consensus that the Place of Provision of Service Rules will take effect from 1st May, 2023 after approval by the respective provincial cabinets. However, electric power transmission will be excluded from the list of goods by FBR. For which the Sales Tax Act is required to be amended through the Finance Bill, will take effect from 1st July, 2023. In conclusion,
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The Supreme Court on Wednesday issued a written order for the March 17 hearing indicating the formation of a judicial commission due the lack of progress in the investigation of journalist Arshad Sharif’s murder case. In the written order, the court stated that if the court was not satisfied with the investigation, a judicial commission would be constituted. On the previous hearing of the case, former Justice Shaukat Aziz Siddiqui, the lawyer of Arshad Sharif’s family, raised objections to the court proceedings and had stated that the Supreme Court could not supervise the JIT’s investigation as the Supreme Court could monitor and investigate matters related to fundamental rights. In its order, the Supreme Court had stated that Additional Attorney General Chaudhry Aamir Rehman informed about mutual legal co-
operation and assistance from Kenya and uAE. According to the additional attorney general, the Kenyan authorities did not respond to mutual legal assistance. The special JIT constituted on court order had been given another three weeks for investigation from foreign countries and it had been stated that since it was an important matter of fundamental rights, the court could form a judicial commission for investigation.
The Supreme Court in its written order had further stated that Arshad Sharif’s murder was a matter of fundamental rights apart from the murder of a senior journalist. More than five thousand letters were sent to the Supreme Court to investigate the murder of Arshad Sharif. According to the order, the Supreme Court wanted a free and fair investigation into Arshad Sharif’s murder. Further hearing of the case would be held in April this month.
fiqah-e-hanfia lahore sehr: 4:23 aM iftar: 6:27 PM
islaMabad sehr: 4:24 aM iftar: 6:35 PM
karachi sehr: 5:02 aM iftar: 6:50 PM
fiqah-e-jafaria lahore sehr: 4:13 aM iftar: 6:37 PM
islaMabad sehr: 4:14 aM iftar: 6:45 PM
karachi sehr: 4:52 aM iftar: 7:00 PM
ECC defers decision on import of banned used auto oil lube g
HDIP, PCSIR unABLE TO DETERMInE IF OIL SAMPLE HAzARDOuS ISLAMABAD Shahzad Paracha
The Economic Coordination Committee (ECC) of the Cabinet deferred the decision on import of banned used auto oil lube. Finance minister Ishaq Dar presided over the meeting of the ECC. Sources said that as defined under Basel Convention the used auto oil contain hazardous wastes which are banned for trade worldwide. The government on the recommendation of climate change ministry imposed a ban in IPO 2013. Subsequently, on the petition of Amir Oil Pvt Ltd, Lahore High Court directed the commerce ministry to treat the representation from the petitioner and decide the matter in accordance with law within 30 days. The Ministry of Commerce consulted climate change ministry to give justification on the ban of used auto lube oil and determine the nature of the oil imported by Aamir Oil Pvt Ltd as hazardous or otherwise. The oil sample was sent to Hydrocarbon Development Institute of Pakistan (HDIP) and Pakistan Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (PCSIR) but none of them could determine its hazardous nature either due to non-availability of requisite technical expertise or the non-existence of the parameter to declare oil as hazardous. However, the point was raised that Basel Convention secretariat Geneva did not address the issue of auto lube oil and instead conveyed general policy provision which stated that water oils are considered by parties as hazardous wastes if they are unfit for their originally intended use. The importer claimed that the Basel Convention restricts the trade of those used oil which are not suitable after their intended use, but used auto oil lube remains as good for use in auto industry and there are no hazardous impurities. Sources said that the ministry of commerce verified import/export data and revealed that the same is being traded worldwide. The reclamation process, in essence, is a recycling process and ministry of climate change used auto oil for recycling purposes. According to finance ministry, the ECC after discussion deferred a summary of Ministry of Commerce regarding Amendment in IPO-2022 pertaining to used auto lube oil. Other discussions In another summary, the Ministry of Commerce submitted a summary on amendments in the Import Policy Order-2022 with regards to import of live animals and animal products in line with the revised conditions/guidelines by the World Organization of Animal Health (WOAH) on the trade of cattle. The ECC after discussion approved the proposed amendments in the relevant clauses of IPO-2022. The ECC approved Technical Supplementary Grant of Rs. 300 million in favour of the Ministry of Housing and Works for repair and maintenance of public buildings. The ECC also approved a supplementary grant of Rs 87 million in favour of Intelligence Bureau for payment of taxes and duties.
Exclusive: Govt, K-Electric in talks for development of 660MW Unit-ii of Jamshoro Coal g
PROJECT FACES A nuMBER OF TECHnICAL, LEGAL, COMMERCIAL AnD REGuLATORy CHALLEnGES ISLAMABAD ahmad ahmadani
The development of a 660MW unit at the Jamshoro Coal Power Limited (JCPL) is facing serious technical, legal, and commercial challenges as the federal government tries to iron out a deal with K-Electric for use of the unit. In a recent meeting of a technical committee constituted by the power division of the energy ministry, the government told K-Electric point blank that it would help them arrange meetings from financers to put money into the projects, but it could not provide any guarantees. JPCL was incorporated in August
1998 under companies Ordinance 1984 and has been a WAPDA owned entity since 1999. A while back, KE had expressed interest in developing a second unit of the project to bolster its provision of electricity in Karachi. The government had asked the power company to go to Jamshoro for a site visit and prepare a proposal accordingly. In a meeting of the earlier mentioned technical committee on the 15th of March, which was attended by all major stakeholders, KE’s proposal and site visit report was discussed in detail. A big issue was over financing and where it would come from, since development requires a large sum of money, while KE
also shared other roadblocks that they were facing in the development. Documents available with Profit reveal that some headway was made as the committee decided that JPCL will immediately initiate the process for transfer of title of land from WAPDA to JPCL. Similarly, the meeting will be arranged for finalisation of the transaction structure of the proposed transaction between a smaller more focused group, with representation of PPIB and KE and nTDC to prepare an initial study on the demand supply analysis, in the case KE opts to offtake power from both units (2x660MW) of Jamshoro Coal Power Project.
Despite this, there still seems to be some doubt over financing. It was decided that the power division would facilitate KE’s team in arranging meetings with potential lenders such as the Asian Development Bank (ADB), the Saudi Fund for Development (SFD) and the Kuwait Fund for Arab Economic Development (KFAED). However, the power division made it clear during the course of this meeting that the government will not provide any guarantees or engage directly with SFD and KFAED to arrange finances/funds for KE, for the development of unit-II. It is worth noting that the government is already worried about tough
ongoing negotiations with the IMF. A lot depends on reaching a staff level agreement since that will release other funds from lenders to pakistan. Technical challenges As per documents, a major challenge KE faces is separating common facilities for development of the unit on 100 percent Thar coal. During the meeting of the committee, the chair remarked that the original design of unit-II was based on the 80:20 blend of imported and local coal. However, the government has recently decided that only local coal is to be used for power generation.
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